Tracy Beatty: Texas executes death row inmate who strangled mom to death and buried her in backyard
DALLAS, TEXAS: A Texas death row inmate was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday night, November 9 at 6.39 pm CT after he allegedly strangled his mother to death in 2003 and buried her body in her backyard. Tracy Beatty, 61, was the state's fourth inmate to be put to death this year after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against blocking his killing.
Beatty was executed at the state's death row facility in Huntsville, nicknamed the Walls Unit, and his death was confirmed shortly after 7.pm CT by Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Beatty's controversial execution had already stayed three times after his lawyers never contested the murder charges and instead challenged the use of the death penalty because his actions did not constitute capital murder charges while also arguing that he was not mentally fit for execution. Capital murder requires aggravating circumstances such as killing a police officer or child, or being in the process of committing another crime, reported Daily Mail.
READ MORE
Dallas hospital shooter Nestor Hernandez was freed in just 100 days after SECOND parole violation
Tracy Beatty, 61, has been on death row since he was sentenced to death in August 2004 for the capital murder of his mother Carolyn Click (Screenshot/CBS 19)Beatty was staying with his mother Carolyn Click, 62, in November 2003 after being released from parole for intentionally harming his 18-month-old niece. When he returned home after a day of drinking he had an argument with his mother, he told CBS19 last week. During the argument, he allegedly grabbed her by the throat and strangled her. Beatty claimed he was not aware he had killed her until the next day. Beatty then buried the body of his mother beside her mobile home about 115 miles southeast of Dallas, in a city called Whitehouse, reported the source. In 2004, a jury decided his fate and since then his execution had been delayed three times.
Beatty was found guilty of capital murder because prosecutors argued he killed his mother during a home burglary and had entered her motor home without her consent. however, Beatty's lawyer claimed he was living with her at the time of the fight, and therefore it could not have been a burglary. Prosecutors alleged that Beatty shared a "volatile and combative relationship" with his mother. A neighbor who has testified during the trial claimed that Click had asked Beatty to move out after a fight. Beatty moved back with Click in October 2003 and the mother was excited to see her son so they could mend their relationship, claimed the neighbor Lieanna Wilkerson. "Several times [Beatty] had said he just wanted to shut her up, that he just wanted to choke her and shut her up," testified Wilkerson.
Before Beatty's execution, he was asked if he wanted to say some final words, Beatty said, "Yes, I just want to thank... I don't want to leave you, baby. See you when you get there. I love you. Thank you to all my brothers back on the unit for all the encouragement to help get my life right. Sunny, Blue, I love you brothers. See you on the other side.'' Beatty added, "I've already made my peace with the Man," he told CBS19. He also said his mother's death was an accident. "That's why I've made my peace with the Man upstairs. I know I'll see her again."
Beatty's attorney also argued that he was not mentally fit. In their Supreme Court petition, Beatty's lawyers said one expert who examined him found he is "clearly psychotic and has a complex paranoid delusional belief system" and that he lives in a "complex delusional world," reported a source. However, US District Judge Charles Eskridge in Houston asked why Beatty's lawyer did raise any claim relating to his mental health during years of appeal. It was later concluded that was not mentally ill "to any significant degree" and had an IQ of 100, "which places him in the middle of the population."